How To: Play MP4 file on your Google Chromecast

Chromecast is a great little dongle for playing videos through your TV from a smartphone or tablet, but it can't play every format you chuck its way. Recently I saw a feedback which said that the user found his MP4 videos couldn’t be streamed to Chromecast and it said that “the codec/format isn’t supported”. And he was confused about why couldn’t stream his MP4 videos which were undoubtedly supported by Chromecast.

How to stream MP4 to Chromecast? What're Chromecast supported video (audio) formats? Check answer here.

Google Chromecast Video Formats

It is believed that every Chromecast user has a certain number of movies, TV shows, music videos saved on computer or devices. And some of the crowds meet trouble that videos cannot work on Chromecast. In order to solve the problem, we should have a brief knowledge of Chromecast supported video formats at first.

MP4 - .mp4 file encoded with H.264 High Profile Level 4.1 video codec and MP3/AAC audio codec.
WebM - .webm video encoded with VP8 video codec and Vorbis audio codec.

The reason why sometimes MP4 can’t be streamed to Chromecast

In fact, the *.mp4 file format is a container for video and audio that can be encoded using different codec. According to Chromecast official website, we can easily find that only .mp4 file encoded with H.264 High Profile Level 4.1 video codec and MP3/AAC audio codec can be supported by Chromecast. In other words, if you try to stream a MP4 video with H.263 or H.265 codec, it is clear that Chromecast will let you down. That’s the reason why sometimes we can’t play MP4 on Chromecast.

How to Stream Unsupported MP4 File to Chromecast?

To break barrier of Chromecast supported video formats for MP4 video streaming, a video transcoder is needed. Pavtube Video Converter for Windows /Mac is the highly-recommend one. It is the most reliable way for you to convert MP4 videos to other MP4 formats with H.264 codec which is supported by Chromecast. Equipped with 250+ well-set device profiles, it can transfer any video files to Chromecast, iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, Apple TV, etc. with possible highest video quality.

The next paragraph I will show you the details about how to use Pavtube Video Converter to convert MP4 to Chromecast.

Step 1. Add the MP4 file unsupported by Chromecast

Launch Pavtube Video Converter and tap "File" ＞ "Load Video/Audio" or "Load from Folder" button to import source MP4 video which you want to stream via Chromecast. You can also add any other video files, such as MKV, AVI for chromecast playback.

Step 2: Output Chromecast supported file formats

After clicking the “Format” button you will enter a window including many video formats. Select the “H.264 High Profile Video(*.mp4)" from "Common Video".

If you wish to cast MP4 video from Chromecast to Sony/Samsung/Panasonic/LG TV, you can directly output TV preset profile formats from "TVs" main category menu.